TTQ B4U

We rarely is ever use US Postage stamps. We pay everything via autopay on 1-2 CC's and then pay those electronically too. The only thing the USPS does for me is bring us junk mail and bills/statements. The only reason they do that is because my wife likes to have paper bills/statements. Package wise they are far cheaper than UPS/Fedex but we still prefer using Fedex as we've had zero issues and customer service is great when it's needed. I wouldn't want to experience service from the post office.

^^ this.

When taking a tree, the element of surprise is key; backdoor it http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/81139542/original.jpg

cool project. in the spirit of CR though, it needs less dudes. :gabe:

Nice captures! Happy to clean them up. Link me to the originals or large jpegs.

Tradition in our family is to begin on Black Friday. We have about 75% of the house complete. We do two trees, an 10 ft one in the great room and an 8ft one in the lower level. We also have a small 3ft one that my wife and I had for years we put up and let the kids do 100%. They had a blast and it actually looks good I don't do outside lights any more. Just too much stuff in life going on to even want to mess with that anymore. Hell, I'm glad I am done with yard work.

^^ this. Only Obama can get away with spending his way out of debt. That's not working too well for him either. Even if it blew up next year, the cost of a tranny and rebuild would likely be cheaper than a new car and more payments.

disregard...

Looks great! I would just add some cross-star effect taylored to your liking and then straighten up the background wall/ornament and pop in a touch of glow to soften it even further. Lastly I added a touch of Bokeh to further isolate the child. Call it my frustration with Crop Sensor shots. I hope you enjoy. http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/140067146/original.jpg

The rule of shutter speeds is true. It does however need to follow the 1.6x factor your camera has due to it being a smaller sensor, thus your nieghbors insight is relatively true. At 100mm you should shoot hand-held at 1/125 and so forth. What you're seeing in terms of your kit lens is the benefit of IS. IS IMO is a nice to have but not a need to have, however, that will vary depending on what you're shooting. If you're shooting low light indoors you have to balance "what" you're shooting with the benefit of IS. Shooting "people" on stage where they are moving, is going to require shutter speeds to stop their motion, which will more than likely rule out the need of IS to stabilize your simply holding a lens. i.e. Shooting a car show indoors, IS is nice as it stabilizes YOU. Shooting gymnastics indoors, it will help stabilize your camera, but again, you'll need high shutter speeds thus no need for it to be needed to stabilize your camera as the speed alone will do that. Tell us more about how you will be using the lens 75%+ of the time and that will allow for a more realistic opinion on which is best for you. Converter wise, ditch the idea for what you've described. Price along of that plus a 100mm will yield a better option of simply applying that money to buying the new Sigma 70-200 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/689577-REG/Sigma_589101_70_200mm_f_2_8_EX_DG.html ^^ is a great lens, I've used it and compared it to the Canon f/2.8 with IS, The very slight difference in Optics aren't worth the delta in price for the Canon, but that's just my opinion. On previous generations of the lens, I wouldn't say that but in this version, it's stellar. Still $1,400 but that's typical for a good quality lens. If you don't need IS, spend the same amount and get the Canon f/2.8 without IS. I use IS a lot only because I pan for sports and given I shoot motorsports, where I keep my shutter speeds low, Mode II stabilizes the up-down motion for me and works great. Based on everything you said, I'd go with the Sigma. It gives you: Affordability (better than Canon) IS up to 4 stops Focal Length Quality

The F4 doesn't allow for enough quality bokeh on anything that's not full frame. It's essentially an f/5.6 lens on a crop body so isolating subjects isn't likely going to happen unless your real close to them and zoom in. Save your money and get the Sigma f/2.8. The latest one is very good and much better than previous generations.

Her viewpoint is a product of a lot of things including stupidity, but her sense of entitlement is also a product of the system. Our country has so many handouts, that I do believe there are a huge number of individuals like her that feel it's responsibility of others to pay for her kids because that's all they know. Obama's plan only reinforces that. Accountability....not many have it.....:dumb:

Canon 100mm f/2 is a low cost alternative. $425 Fast enough for sports and wide enough for low light, excellent AF speed and accuracy. I use it to shoot fights and swimming. Great portrait lens too. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/12058-USA/Canon_2518A003_Telephoto_EF_100mm_f_2_0.html

Green Mile Ate tons of veggies.....and damn the thing looked like Tarzan's Vine.

Sad story for all those children. She should be sterilized, forced to work off her debt she owes the tax payers and her kids put into loving homes. Yes, I'm somewhat serious...

Most kids fuck there parents in some way as they grow up. Does that count?

I have a <$50 one from Target that I've had for a few years. Uses bags inside the canister which makes clean up nice, but they aren't required. Keeps the filter / exhaust clean. My only recommendation is to buy one that you know will have accessories available for readily vs a no-name one that might not even be sold by the store in a year or two. I do also have a very nice Sears Wall mount unit with 30' of hose. That's the one I use most and while it was more money, it's a professional solution that is always in the right place when needed. Damn thing will suck up a small animal even over all that distance.

HaHa! CR Comes through. I knew you'd surface. That's was my DD'er Fusion Sport in the lot. Your car does sound great. In terms of cars, the Si is about the easiest manual to learn in. I bet she'd be fine from the get-go. Never drove a G35 manual so I can't say. I do know that I've driven a stick for years and it took 2-3 weeks to get used to my Mazda Speed. It's easy to drive hard but hard to drive easy.

Here in Columbus the news stories replaced the Pedo Bear stickers with CR Stickers as being dangerous to the public. :no:

WOW has been great for us. PM Joe aka Nitrousbird. He'll hook you up on a great package.

^^ this and beware of sherrifs in the small towns too. I see them a lot in little 35mph towns that are located in the middle of a 55mph two lane road. They either nail you entering the 35mph zone or in the 55mph area just outside as most people enjoy getting up to speed once they cross through the town.

a 6-6 team that played a pretty good game against them too. I didn't think we'd hang like we did.

The one posted here was $15. Normally 1/2 that but they wanted more than just blemishes done. Not bad for what amounted to 5 minutes work. They supplied me the high resolution image taken by another photog. I'll get busy again starting this week as many of my clients are just now giving me a heads up that their memory cards are in route I love holidays.

Ricer... :gabe:

I agree with some of the comments in that I hope Canon seizes the opportunity to get this guy another camera in wake of the publicity. Heck, buy the guy who found it and the guy who lost it one.